Anton Chekhov once said this:
Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.
That's not to say you shouldn't be descriptive. You should--as long as it's relevant. If it's not, why the hell are you telling me?
For example, my current book spent a page detailing a man's high school baseball career and how he got injured in Vietnam. The book is not about baseball or Vietnam. It takes place many years after high school. And the character speaks one line and is not mentioned either before or after this description. Why the hell would I care about his high school baseball career? That's right. I wouldn't.
There are a lot of really great, successful writers who describe the hell out of things. And that's great for them. But even Tolkien and Stephen King know you have to draw the line somewhere.
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